Sweden Town Board members are expected to adopt the 2015 town budget during a meeting planned for Wednesday, November 5.
During their regular meeting Tuesday, October 28, council members voted unanimously to over-ride the tax cap for 2015 in preparation for approval of the budget.
During a public hearing on the 2015 Preliminary Budget held before the tax cap vote, Supervisor Rob Carges said the Town of Sweden tax levy for 2015 is $78,095.00 above the state’s cap of 1.56 percent.
Preliminary budget appropriations total $4.9 million with a $2.56 million tax levy.
According to a Budget Summary provided by the town, that’s a 5.09 percent increase from 2014 in proposed tax. Carges said that translates to a $2.46 tax rate in the Village of Brockport and a $4.75 tax rate for the town outside the village.
That’s up slightly from a $2.39 tax rate for the village and $4.65 tax rate for the town outside the village in the 2014 budget, he said.
During the public hearing on the tax cap override which followed the public hearing on the budget, residents Thomas and Patricia Pawlaczyk expressed disappointment that the board “couldn’t come up with $78,000 to meet the tax cap.”
Councilperson Robert Muesebeck noted that in the wake of last winter’s salt usage by the highway department, the snow removal budget lines for 2015 have been increased.
“We have looked at everything,” he said. “We try to balance the budget and keep everybody happy – it’s difficult.”
Councilperson Rebecca Donohue said the town has reduced its workforce over the past several years, by not replacing some workers lost through attrition.
“The majority of departments we can’t cut anymore, it isn’t that we haven’t tried,” she said. “There’s also the unknown variable of how the court will shake out.”
The Village of Brockport is in the process of establishing its own court. In the town’s tentative 2015 budget, anticipated court fine revenues are down 56 percent, with court expenses remaining the same or increasing slightly, Supervisor Carges wrote in the Fall 2014 town newsletter.
Supervisor Carges said during the October 28 meeting, that in order to cut the number of town judges from three to two, town voters must approve – and because of that process, the elimination of a judge position would not occur in the 2015 budget year.
The town is also facing an extra payroll in 2015, a periodic challenge that happens about once every 13 years, town leaders have said.
New name for Sweden Senior Center
Also at their October 28 meeting, Sweden Town Board members voted to approve a new name for the Sweden Senior Center which was given an additional $25,000 in the 2015 preliminary budget to keep it open.
It will now be known as The Center – A Community Gathering Place.
